This Blog is Do Follow

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Thursday, October 9, 2008

I know you might think that's crazy, but I see an opportunity. The stock market crash is devastating to many, but to those in position, it can be a good thing. Now, I'm not happy for those whose 401k's have melted away to almost nothing. Hell, mine is not looking that good either, right now. But what goes down must eventually go right back up. The market never stays down forever.

I used to be a stock market FIEND back in 2001, 2 and 3. When I wasn't teaching classes and training clients, I was all about the market. This started for me right after 9/11. I had been studying up on some stocks and keeping a virtual portfolio, and then that fateful day came and the markets fell. Remember? I jumped in right then.

The very first stock that I bought was Blockbuster Video (BBI). I'd been watching it for a few weeks. For weeks after those planes hit the towers, we didn't have TV, other than channel 2 (unless you had cable, which I didn't), so I was going to Blockbuster buying videos to watch. I figured, might be a good idea to buy some of this stock. So I did. Bought it at 18 and change, held it for about 3 weeks, and sold at 26 and change. My first stock market trade was a success! I was completely hooked from then on. I then bought some Honeywell (HON), and a few others I can't remember, started studying all the info out here on trading, began studying companies that I was planning to trade, reading their company reports and even keeping little files on them. It was crazy. I would not even teach a class or train a client between 9 and 11 am, because I lived for that 9:30 opening bell.I'd have my little Scottrader live board up, and my two Ameritrade accounts open, ready to watch and participate in the action.

I had a good year of trading, followed by a bad year (when I discovered those damn penny stocks!!), and then the next year I broke about even. Then I got over it. But trading for me was fun. I absolutely lived for it, and was all over the finance message boards on AOL learning trading secrets from some of the veterans, folks that have been in the market for decades. Damn.... I'm getting nostalgic thinking back on all that!! LOL! I made some really good online friends when I was trading, some whom I still keep in contact with. I had even started my own Yahoo group called "Stock Market Divas". Don't go over there now.... nothing but crickets chirping and tumbleweeds, because I completely abandoned it when I stopped trading.

Some of you might think I'm crazy, but I know exactly what I'm heading into. I used to eat, sleep and breathe the market. And I know well the golden rule of trading: don't gamble what you can't afford to lose. Because, at the end of the day, that's what trading in the stock market is; gambling. But I'm no rookie here.... been there, done that, LIVED that. Know how to apply my due diligence and read a quarterly report, etc. And right now, I see some BARGAINS!!! I've got a few extra bucks of play money sitting around to throw into the game, and I'm gonna go for it. This market crash is not going to last, mark my words. And you know what? I'm excited! Just about as excited as I used to get when I was in the thick of it all years ago. Hell, I still have a few of my old trading accounts still open, just sitting there holding the scraps of some penny trash I bought before I quit back in 2004. It's time. Time to throw my hat back into the ring. Here I go..... Wish me luck!